Cardiff City's Malky Mackay is safe from Vincent Tan...for now

MALKY MACKAY will stay as Cardiff manager after a stunning U-turn by owner Vincent Tan.

MACKAY: For now the manager is staying at Cardiff City despite Tan's attempts to get him out [PA]

Cardiff’s maverick chairman had threatened Mackay with a ‘resign or face the sack’ ultimatum last week.

But, following the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool on Saturday where Tan faced a major backlash from the Welsh club’s support, the Malaysian billionaire owner has reversed his threat in a remarkable climbdown.

Mackay insisted he would not quit and Cardiff’s fans turned on the owner at Anfield, chanting for Mackay, to remain in his post, and calling for Tan’s head .

Club chairman Mehmet Dalman, who cancelled a Christmas holiday to France, was used as a peacemaker and, with further talks planned, his persuasive powers appear to have kept Mackay at the Cardiff City Stadium for the foreseeable future.

When asked if the sack threat had been lifted, Dalman replied: “For the time being, yes it is. The crisis for the time being is over.

"As things stand Malky is in charge for the forseeable future and will be until something else happens. I don't want to go game by game on this, with people asking if Malky will be in charge. The emphasis as of today is for us to create space and dialogue.

“I have spoken to Vincent Tan and he has agreed I can go into bat to try to bring a solution to this situation.

“There is goodwill on Vincent’s side. I’ve not had a chance to talk to Malky just yet, but I will obviously do that as well.”

This is the second time Dalman has attempted to fix the strained relationship between Tan and Mackay this season after head of recruitment Iain Moody’s sacking in October.

Vincent Tan and Mackay's relationship has been strained at best [GETTY]

As things stand Malky is in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens

Club chairman, Mehmet Dalman

Dalman said: “We managed to create space for everyone to work together in October and we have to see if we can do that again in order to move forward.

“At least we have a platform for dialogue, which gives us a chance to try to work our way through this.

“If we wish to work towards a reconciliation, Vincent Tan has offered us that opportunity to move towards that.

“If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

But at least I as a responsible person and chairman of this football club have tried my best. Let’s see if we can fix it.”

Cardiff had been linked with approaches for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Sven-Goran Eriksson among others.

But Dalman said: “I can tell you categorically that I, as chairman, have not initiated any dialogue with anybody else. I’ve read and heard so much nonsense about us speaking to four different candidates and that sort of thing. It’s simply not true.”

Despite the turnaround, Tan will still face a hostile reception when he turns up for the Boxing Day home clash with Southampton with more protests against him planned.

But Dalman said: “If I had one wish for Boxing Day, it’s that they don’t hold up ‘Tan Out’ or ‘Malky In’ banners, but rather one that says ‘Talk to each other’.”